Featured Articles from The Economic Times

If the lives of start-up founders are about sweat, blood and tears, no one told the trio at Mumbai-based discount broking firm RKSV. "To be honest, we have had a considerably smooth ride," says Raghu Kumar, one of the three promoters, briefly describing in a matter-of-fact tone their two-year journey as entrepreneurs. He means it. Rather, he prefers to let the numbers speak. Within two years of starting operations and largely operating in a dull market, RKSV is now clocking daily turnover of Rs 4,000 crore.

MUMBAI: Bangalore-based digital publisher EC Media International on Thursday launched its multi-function e-book reader Wink that not only supports 15 languages but will also offer over 200,000 book titles on debut. Wink will offer consumers a one-stop e-store to access e-reading content of choice via www.thewinkstore.com that would enable access not just to e-books, but also journals, newspapers, magazines and selected articles, EC Media said. Many of the titles have been acquired from international aggregators, giving Indians access to a whole lot of books not available in the country.

ET provides a step-by-step guide to help you file tax returns electronically before the July 31 deadline using the official website of the I-T dept or private sites. July 31, the last day to file income tax returns, is almost here. Sure, you can file returns even after that, but it comes with complications. So, don't count on it. If you earn above Rs 5 lakh, you have to file returns electronically this year. That means you can file your returns even in the last two days from your home computer.

WASHINGTON: Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke issued a stern warning to Republican lawmakers that delays in raising the United States' $14.3-trillion debt limit could have "catastrophic" consequences. "Beyond a certain point ... the United States would be forced into a position of defaulting on its debt. And the implications of that on our financial system, our fiscal policy and our economy would be catastrophic ," he told the National Press Club. Bernanke coupled his warning with a call for the Obama administration and Congress to put in place a credible plan to curb future budget deficits.

KOLKATA: Amazon India has become a battleground between Apple and Samsung. Both companies are selling smartphones at a discount only on the portal after yanking them out of brick-and-mortar stores. Apple slashed prices of the iPhone 5c, one of its slowest-selling models, by 30% and now offers it exclusively on Amazon. Korean rival Samsung followed up with a 23% discount on its erstwhile flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone on the website. Both Apple and Samsung are liquidating unsold inventory of the two models, according to senior trade executives.

NEW YORK: Data analysis software company Tableau Software and developer tools maker Atlassian are among several small, business software firms preparing to go public in the next 12 months, hoping a growing market for cloud computing will shield them from the aftermath of Facebook's botched IPO and Europe's woes. Sources familiar with the situation said others include: AppSense, whose user virtualization technology allows people to use different devices; Marin Software, which offers an online advertising management platform; Rapid7, which makes network security software; Rally Software, a provider of project management tools; and CollabNet, which offers web-based software development tools.

Thinking of investing in the PPF and fixed deposits for your little daughter's education or marriage? The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) could be a better alternative. The scheme, which was launched in January as part of the Prime Minister's Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative, was already eligible for deduction under Section 80C. The Budget has now made the income from the scheme tax free. The SSY is more attractive than the PPF because it offers a higher interest rate. The interest rate of the SSY is also linked to the government bond yield.

CHICAGO: The first shots have already been fired in what could be an escalating "price war" between major automakers in the US market, according to a Hyundai Motor Co executive, "I think we can officially say that a price war broke out in the industry,' John Krafcik , president and chief executive of Hyundai Motor America said on the sidelines of the Chicago auto show. "There is apparently a lot of pressure to deliver sales results. " Increased discounting on new car sales would be a boon to consumers but could chip away at the profitability that many investors had projected for automakers at the start of the second year of a still-developing recovery in US auto sales.

Shares of BF Utilities rose to its daily limit of 20 percent after CNBC TV-18 reported the Supreme Court has given go-ahead for the acquisition of land in Bangalore for the NICE ( Nandi infrastructure Corridor Enterprise ) project, four dealers said. BF Utilities holds a majority stake in NICE. At 2:47 p.m., shares were locked in circuit at 845.60 rupees.

KOLKATA: Shell India Markets Pvt Ltd is eyeing around 13 percent market share in the Indian lubricant market from the present 6-7 percent, a top official said here on Thursday. Shell India Markets Pvt Ltd is 100 percent subsidiary of global oil major Shell. Shell makes and sells more than 3,000 different lubricants. "We have targeted to double our market share and for this we need to increase supplies through various option, either by adding capacity to our Taloja plant or by sourcing supplies from our plants in neighbouring countries," Donald Anderson, Country Head, Lubricants, Shell India Markets, said.

By Neha Pandey Deoras Budget 2014 gave taxpayers plenty to smile about. For instance, the hike in deduction limit under Section 80C meant that those who saved more could reduce their tax by up to Rs 15,000. While a higher limit can clearly be a boon for taxpayers, it may not be of much use if you don't know which tax-saving option suits you best. If you too are confused by the wide range of options under Section 80C, our cover story can help you. We have considered nine of the most common tax-saving instruments and ranked them according to their score on six parameters.

CHENNAI: Good news for those aspiring to work in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector! Now any one seeking a job in a BPO can apply dialling a toll-free number to key in their resumes from their mobile phone. The aspirants can also record their voice on the toll-free number, once this is done, the mobile number gets registered into the system. This service, DialBPOJobs, is available in five cities - New Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. After finding the initial response encouraging, the New Delhi-based job portal company Times Business Solutions Ltd. (TBSL)